The Joys of Saving Children and Piglets

Janet just told me this quick story and it struck me as funny and sweet in a weird way, so I thought I would share it. She has been very concerned about the upcoming typhoon Ruby and checking in with her family often and instead of panicking this is the story her mother shared with her today.

The family is large and diverse and three young ones are still living at home. It seems that her younger brother wanted to go out. Janet’s mom gave him a strict time to come home. Naturally, being a kid, he lost track of time and didn’t come home. Either that or he was having too much fun to care about mom’s rules. She went looking for him and ended up at the local Internet Cafe, where the youngster was playing video games. She had a look on her face and a stick in her hand and Janet’s brother knew what that meant and took off at top speed.

Mom was not about to run after him and calmly walked home still prepared to discipline her child. When she arrived he was there waiting for her with a big smile on his face.

“Why are you smiling at me?” mom asked.

“So that you don’t beat me,” he answered.

She cracked up laughing and the beating was avoided. Sounds like it was a good lesson for both of them.

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As anyone involved in the Philippines knows it’s typhoon season. While we now wait for the big one named Ruby, last week a somewhat weaker storm hit. Despite it being much weaker only dumping rain in Janet’s former hometown, the water ran off the local mountain and flooded much of her neighborhood. The rushing water was over 5 feet high. Roosters and pigs floated off and even a carabao was seen being washed away. Janet’s ate, her older sister, had recently begun raising piglets. One of the piglets was caught in the rushing water. Janet’s older brother, who’s a pretty cool guy and I would like to get to know better, doing his best impression of John Wayne, made an impromptu lasso and lassoed the piglet as it washed by to what would have been a certain death. Pigs are priorities in the Philippines.